IELTS Exam Syllabus

IELTS or International English Language Testing System is a test run by British Council, IDP (International Development Program), and Cambridge ESOL Examinations, but IELTS exam syllabus is same.

• Cambridge ESOL Examinations → it is collaborated by British Council and produces the exam of IELTS.
• British Council → it is based in the UK and run more than 800 official IELTS test centers.
• IDP → it is based in Australia and runs more than 2000 test locations.

To know the syllabus of IELTS, the first and foremost thing is to have the IELTS introduction.

Before going into the details of IELTS exam syllabus, let us first understand types of IELTS.

Types of IELTS

There are two types of IELTS: IELTS Academic and IELTS General Training.

IELTS Academic

IELTS Academic is a test for those candidates who want to study higher level of education in the countries where English is fundamental language, and is used as a native language. Countries like the USA, Canada, Australia, UK, New Zealand and many more accept academic IELTS for study purpose.

IELTS General Training (GT)

IELTS GT is a test for those candidates who want to work or migrate in English speaking countries including some other ones. They can get admission at secondary level. It is also valid for the USA, UK, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia.                    

This test analyzes the skills and proficiency in English that how they counter different types of circumstances.

Four Modules of IELTS Exam Syllabus

IELTS Exam Syllabus consists of four modules which are as follows:

• Listening
• Speaking
• Reading
• Writing

All these four modules are for both IELTS Academic and IELTS General training (GT). There is just a little difference of test pattern. The modules of listening, writing and reading are conducted on the same day while speaking test is conducted after, before or on the test day.

Now I am going to discuss the section wise syllabus of IELTS. Four sections are mentioned above, so let’s start to grab them one by one.

IELTS Listening for Academic and GT

The Listening test for IELTS Academic and IELTS general is same. This test contains 4 recordings. The first two passages are related to social perspective while remaining two are related to education. Time duration for this test is 30 minutes while 10 minutes are given in case of physical paper for transferring answers to answer sheet.

Different types of questions are given in this section:

• Multiple choice questions
• Sentence completion
• Map
• Diagram
• Matching
• Summary etc.

Each recording contains 10 questions. All these questions are in series. So be careful during listening. Do no waste time in missed questions.

I am writing below that which types of recording will be played.

• Recording No. 1 – it is based on social perspectives
• Recording No. 2 –a monologue speech which occurs in daily routine
• Recording No. 3 – it is a conversation between two persons
• Recording No. 4 – this recording is also a monologue.

How IELTS listening bands are given to the candidates:

IELTS Listening test consists of 40 questions. Each of them carries one mark. These marks are converted into IELTS band scale.

IELTS Speaking for Academic and General Training

Speaking section of IELTS exam syllabus is same for both IELTS Academic and IELTS General Training. It is critical section of IELTS. This section looks like interview because there is face to face conversation between candidate and examiner. It is analyzed in this section that how candidate faces different types of circumstances in daily life routine.

The most important tip is that you should not repeat the sentence structure and vocabulary items. Use of synonyms with different sentence structures is the key to getting good bands in IELTS speaking module.

Speaking section of IELTS consists of three parts:

• Part 1: In this portion of IELTS, first of all the examiner will ask about your introduction, after it general questions will be asked like your hobbies, educational background, family background, your achievements and interest.

In fact, examiner will judge your sentence structure, vocabulary and how you use your sentences. It will take 4-5 minutes. There is 1 band for this part.

• Part 2: This portion takes 3-4 minutes. In this portion, you will need to speak on a specific topic which is known as cue card. The examiner will give you a cue card. 1 minute will be for your topic preparation. After it you will speak continuously for two minutes.

It can give you high bands because there are 6 bands for this portion.

• Part 3: The speaking part of this portion consists of follow up questions. The examiner will ask different types of questions related to cue card; you will have to give detailed answers of the questions. The duration for this part of speaking is about 4-5 minutes. It can give you 2 bands.

Reading for Academic IELTS

The reading section of IELTS Academic contains three long passages of text and all of these are based on descriptive, analytical and fact base research articles. These passages are taken from newspapers, journals, books and magazines.

The questions in reading module include:

• Multiple choice questions
• True, false, not given
• Yes, no, not given
• Fill in the blanks
• Sentence completion
• Matching information
• Short answers
• Summary writing etc.

IELTS Reading for GT

The reading section for IELTS General Training is similar as IELTS Reading for Academic, but it is easier to some extent. It contains three passages taken from newspapers, pamphlets, books and journals. These passages are based on daily routine of English-speaking environment, where a candidate can easily counter daily life circumstances of English-speaking country.

Marking criteria of IELTS reading test

How marks of IELTS reading test are given to the candidates?

IELTS reading test contains 40 questions carrying 1 mark by each. Correct answers are awarded by one mark each and all of these are converted to the IELTS band scale.

IELTS Writing for Academic and General Training

The Writing segment of IELTS is based on two parts: Task 1 and Task 2. The syllabus of IELTS is different for IELTS Academic and GT.

In task 1, the question is based on diagram, process, table, picture, map or chart and you have to write on that specific topic within the duration of 20 minutes. The word limit for this task is 150 words.

While in task 2, the question is given to you with a specific topic or a descriptive question in which you have to present your thoughts with the word limit of 250 words.

Keep in mind that it is not allowed to write under 150 and 250 words in task 1 and task 2 respectively. In fact, it is minimum required length of text. You should write at least 30 to 40 words more to attract bands.

The difference of writing in IELTS Academic and GT is this that in Academic you have to elaborate the given information in the form of graph, chart, map or table etc., while in IELTS General Training writing, you have to write a letter on a given topic of Task 1 which can be personal, formal or informal.

How marks are given to the candidate for writing test?

The IELTS writing test is given to candidates in a standardized manner. Candidates are provided with specific tasks and time limit to complete their written responses. Trained examiners evaluate the responses based on established criteria of task response, lexical resource, cohesion & coherence, and scores ranging from 0 to 9 are assigned for each task.

Overall weightage of task 1 is 3 bands, and task 2 is 6 bands, so more time is suggested to spend on task 2. Spare 5 to 10 minutes to proofread your writing.

Best Tips for IELTS Exam Syllabus- 2023

• Continuous reading makes consistency of IELTS aspirants. So, it is fruitful for you to read constantly.
• Reading long passages, books, and newspaper will help a lot in reading section to achieve high bands.
• Vocabulary and grammar both are improved by reading constantly.
• Listening podcasts, watching talk shows in English or movies will help a lot to refine your listening skills.
• Writing on daily basis will also affect a lot. Write anything you know. It increases your ability of writing skills which embellish your writing section of IELTS.
• Find a friend who is related to this field and practice both speaking and other aspects to polish your skills.
• Take online tests and attend seminars or webinars for the assessment of IELTS.
• Take feedback from expert mentors and instructors to develop your fundamental skills of IELTS.

FAQs about IELTS exam syllabus

What is the syllabus of IELTS Academic?

IELTS Academic syllabus consists of four modules: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. All these four sections are essential to cover for achieving high bands.

What is the syllabus of IELTS General Training?

IELTS general training syllabus contains four sections: Listening, speaking, reading, and writing. It is also similar as IELTS Academic syllabus. There is just a little difference of reading and writing.

Is the syllabus of IELTS Academic and GT same?

Almost similar, but not same, because both contain four sections: reading, writing, speaking and listening. There is a slight difference of reading and writing between IELTS Academic and General training.

Does IELTS syllabus change every year?

The pattern of IELTS syllabus does not change every year. But it has been observed that the level of difficulty is increasing day by day.

Is it possible to cover IELTS syllabus at home?

You can cover syllabus of IELTS at home with hard work and consistency. 12 tips to prepare IELTS at home will help a lot to cover your IELTS syllabus at home. But as far as my teaching experience is concerned, I think that you should take proper classes of IELTS from any expert teacher of IELTS.

This is also the misconception that expert in English can easily get good bands in IELTS, but in reality, you have to improve you logical thinking, guessing power, understanding level and power of expression.

IELTS syllabus is easy or difficult?

It is cool for those who will take it seriously and practice consistently while it is tough for those who are lazy and do not have proper guidance and material.

Is there any syllabus of IELTS?

Yes. IELTS syllabus consists of four sections reading, writing, speaking and listening. All these four sections are the complete syllabus of IELTS.